We had a full day in Portland, today.
We began the day at a motel in Castle Rock, Washington where we ended up after our adventures with Mt. St. Helens yesterday.
We got up, had some breakfast in the room, filled the car with gas (brrr, it was cold out pumping the gas) and took off down the road. Today, before we left out for Portland, we planned our route. It seemed a judicious thing todo after the chaos of our last entry into Portland in the grid-locked traffic, darkness and rain when we spent two hours trying to get to our hotel.
The route planning was good and we entered the city and vectored directly to our accommodations which is/was at the University Place Inn on the campus of Portland State University. Nice place – recommended.
Once in, we went out (what else?). We found the trolley system and went riding. Went to Jake’s in a big hotel downtown for a meal. Nice ambiance and good Eggs Benedict. Then it was off to Powell’s books where we both bought a few books (not like we don’t already have plenty!). Then we walked through the older and seedier part of town to the waterfront and walked along that.
Then back onto the trolleys and we went looking for the big city center shopping mall area. We found it. It was big and pretty and thronged with shoppers. I poked my nose into the Apple store looking to see what the newest versions of the iPhone are going for. Answer: 64 GB for $399 if slaved to the AT&T Network and $699 if free from network linkages. And, they are constantly sold out. I decided to give it a ‘bye’ for now.
After that, we decided to sit in a bar where we could watch the crowds go by and we found one and sat there for about an hour watching and talking. Then we walked home to the Inn which was quite a ways.
I’d sent my friend Joel, who lives in the Portland area, E-Mails earlier in the day hoping to connect with him for lunch or supper. After we got back to the room he called. He’d just got my E-Mails and he’d been in Portland dancing Tango all afternoon. He was home now again across the river in Vancouver, Washington. We talked about 20 minutes and he decided to come over and see us at the Inn as it was only about 15 minutes.
He came and we had a great time talking. He makes jewelry and he brought a lot of his stuff to show us. It was really nice. He had one set of earrings I really liked and I asked him about them for Colette and he gave them to us for Christmas! Nice.
Joel is such a trip. I call him my ‘pirate’ friend. He is truly an ‘out there’ artistic personality. I’ve known him ever since we were both in university together in the 1970’s.
And thus ended another day. Tomorrow, we’re off to see the Japanese Gardens here in Portland and then we’ll begin working our way down the coast towards San Francisco and my friend, Dave’s, house.
dennis